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Book Review of Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
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I'll be the first to admit, my experience with mountain climbing is climbing the steps to the third floor to my kids' messy bedrooms to clean. Stupid me, thought you go to the bottom of the mountain, climb up, say "yippee, I'm on the top", and climb back down. This was an eye opener to the REAL trials and tribulations of climbing - and I mean serious climbing. There are weeks of "acclimation", where you go up a few thousand feet, spend some time there, and go back down - to try to get your body used to the increasingly thin air. The affects of this atmosphere and climate on the human body is unbelievable. Punishing. Borders on fatal each step of the way. Of course it makes you think "why? why would you want to do this?", but I suspect it is like anything else we are passionate about - the incredible sense of accomplishment, pride, self satisfaction. This is an incredible book and I highly recommend it, whether you are interested in climbing or not. I learned a ton!